Artist
Eubena Nampitjin (c.1921 – 2013)
A senior law woman and maparn (traditional healer), Nampitjin spent her formative years travelling the sandhills of her desert homelands in Western Australia, moving with the seasons along what was later known as the Canning Stock Route, across the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson Deserts. The intimate knowledge of Country she gained during this time was to become the inspiration for her artistic practice, with the region's landforms, sand dunes, rockholes, and water courses becoming ever-present motifs in her work.
Nampitjin started to paint with her second husband, the late Wimmitji Tjapangarti in the mid 1980s and was a founding member of Warlayirti Artists Co-operative. Their work shared a luminous and intricate complexity and a love of warm reds, oranges and yellows, a palette that continued to be the artist’s signature throughout her career.
Nampitjin was considered the Queen of Warlayirti Artists, her regal demeanour and powerful personality impacting everyone who came into her presence. Following her passing in 2013, Nampitjin has been remembered for her iron will and unfailingly generous character. Nampitjin's enduring legacy is both her impressive oeuvre, with works in all the most important national and international collections, and her prevailing influence on contemporary artists working today.
Alcaston Gallery has represented the Warlayirti Artists of Balgo Hills since 1989 and represented Eubena Nampitjin (c.1921 – 2013) her entire career.
© Eubena Nampitjin/Copyright Agency, 2024
© Alcaston Gallery 2024
